Grounds as Methane Trap

Coffee Report

Coffee grinds speed up decomposition

Korea

Can you trap methane gas when you mix coffee grounds with lye (water and potassium)? The short answer is yes.

A much longer answer was recently published in the September issue of Nanotechnology. Christian Kemp and colleagues at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology reported on their experiment to do just that, trap methane gas in a stable, low-cost medium.

Kemp wrote, “[C]arbon-based materials are ideal candidates for methane and other gas capture/storage as they are light, durable and relatively cheaper to produce. In fact, the cost of carbon-based materials used in methane adsorption can be further reduced if the carbon source is readily available and of no inherent value, i.e. waste material."

The team started with the grounds of a 100% Colombian coffee from Kirkland to perform their experiment. Their techniques and measurements utilized a much higher degree of precision than simply mixing coffee grounds with lye.